How do you tell a story without words? If you’ve ever been embarrassed by how bad you are at charades, you’ll know it’s no easy feat. But choreographers have been doing it for centuries – sometimes with mime but also without, giving dance its own eloquence. They’ve sought inspiration from a remarkable range of sources – whether folktales, literature, real life or their own imaginations.

The most longstanding literary ballet must be Don Quixote. Miguel de Cervantes’s novel, published 1605–15, has been inspiring ballets since at least 1743, when an unknown choreographer mounted Don Quichotte chez la Duchesse for the Paris Opera. He was the first of many, though the version with the most longevity has proved to be Marius Petipa’s 1869 version (used by Carlos Acosta in his production for The Royal Ballet). Balletic Don Quixotes tend to sacrifice Cervantes’s philosophical consideration of the human condition for a cheerful rendition of one of the novel’s many absurd episodes – in Petipa's, where Don Quixote helps two young lovers get together despite the wishes of her parent.

Another of the oldest ballets still going strong is Jean Dauberval’s 1789 La Fille mal gardée (though modern audiences know it best through Frederick Ashton’s 1960 version). Unlike Don Quixote, the origins for this are entirely obscure – suggested sources includes an opera of the same title but with a different story and different music, or an 18th-century print of a mother scolding her child. Slim pickings indeed. You might recognize the story, though: Lise loves impoverished Colas; Lise’s mother wants her to marry wealthy Alain; the lovers find a way (this time without a wandering knight's help) to get the mother to forget Alain and give her blessing to their wedding.

In fact, much like commedia dell’arte, 19th-century ballet tended to use the same recognizable characters in different contexts – a handy tool for audiences to figure out what’s happening. In a ballet fantastique you could expect to find the hero, the good woman, the bad woman and various mischievous magicians to keep the plot going. Petipa’s 1877 La Bayadère is a prime example. He took his story from the ballet Sacountala, created by his brother Lucien in Paris in 1858, which itself was based on a 5th-century Sanskrit play by Kālidāsa. None of that really matters, though: all it adds is local colour for a story where the demure Nikia loves the heroic Solor who is tempted by the extremely bad Gamzatti who, with the help of the scheming High Brahmin, eventually brings about her and everyone else’s deaths, with the lovers united in paradise.

Swan Lake runs 10 February–9 April 2015. Tickets are still available.
The production is given with generous philanthropic support from Celia Blakey, Doug and Ceri King, and Peter Lloyd. Original Production (1987) and revival (2000) supported by The Linbury Trust.

Sampling the Myth runs until 7 September 2014. Tickets are sold out.Deloitte Ignite, curated by The Royal Ballet with the National Gallery's Minna Moore Ede, runs until 28 September and includes a wide range of free and ticketed events. Tickets are still available for some events.

Together with a new commission from Aakash Odedra and Chris Ofili - and the premieres of three short dance films - Sampling the Myth presents excerpts from some favourite myth-influenced classical and contemporary ballets.

According to Slavic folklore, the Firebird was an enchanted, glowing bird from a faraway land that could be both a blessing and a curse to its owner. Mikhail Fokine’s ballet for Sergey Diaghilev’s Ballets Russes drew on elements from several Russian fairy tales to create an original story specifically aimed at Western audiences. In the tale, a feather from the tail of the Firebird helps Ivan Tsarevich free the Beautiful Tsarevna and defeat the evil magician Kostchei. It was the first of the choreographer’s groundbreaking collaborations with composer Igor Stravinsky, and captivated audiences with its combination of virtuoso ballet technique and naturalistic, folk-derived styles of movement. It fast became a classic of 20th-century ballet and remains a favourite of audiences around the world; it has subsequently been rechoreographed and updated by a number of artists including George Balanchine and Alexei Ratmansky, with the clip below coming from Yuri Possokhov's version for San Francisco Ballet.

The Dying Swan is based on Tennyson’s poem of the same name, which itself was influenced by Greek mythology. This solo work was created specifically for the great dancer Anna Pavlova at her request, and she reputedly performed it 4,000 times around the world. So dedicated was she to the role that her last words were apparently 'Get my Swan costume ready'. The solo is set to Camille Saint-Saëns's cello solo Le Cygne from Le Carnaval des Animaux (The Carnival of the Animals) and such is its emotional pull that Fokine described the work as ‘proof that the dance could and should satisfy not only the eye, but through the medium of the eye should penetrate the soul’. The Dying Swan has since inspired a host of different adaptations – including a recent version by Royal Ballet Artist Calvin Richardson, performed by Royal Ballet Artist Matthew Ball in the Paul Hamlyn Hall as part of Deloitte Ignite 2014.

The original source for the story of the classical ballet Swan Lake, in which a princess, cursed to transform into a swan every night, can only be freed by true and faithful love, has long been disputed. It is generally thought to be a combination of several German fairy tales, particularly Johann Karl August Musäus’s Der geraubte Schleier (The Stolen Veil), with elements of Russian folklore and a few contributions from composer Pyotr Il’yich Tchaikovsky, who wrote the music for the ballet's 1877 premiere. For his adaptation, choreographer Matthew Bourne reimagined the broad outline of the original story to create a modern tale of repression and yearning, in which the swans (traditionally female) are danced by men.

Like The Firebird, Apollo (or Apollon musagète as it was called when it was first performed in 1928) marked the start of a fruitful working partnership, in this case between composer Igor Stravinsky and Georgian-American choreographer George Balanchine. The composer both wrote the music for the ballet and conceived its scenario, in which the god Apollo leads the muses Terpsichore (dance), Calliope (poetry) and Polyhymnia (song) up Mount Parnassus. The work was a turning point for Balanchine, who returned from recent modernist experiments to his classical roots in an innovative neoclassical style that reflects the purity and unity of Stravinsky’s score.

Wayne McGregor’s Raven Girl, first performed in 2013, is based on a dark original fairy tale written and illustrated by Audrey Niffenegger (best known for her 2003 novel The Time Traveler’s Wife). The ballet tells the story of the daughter of a postman and a raven, unable to speak and unable to fly, who feels at odds with everything around her. She attempts to get wings, with disastrous results. With its combination of the everyday and the supernatural, a woman who undergoes a transformation and a saviour prince, this story recalls myths that inspired great ballets. Translating these elements into a contemporary setting, McGregor and Niffenegger’s ballet is a captivating piece of modern visual theatre.

The programme combines dance and visual art in a modern exploration of ancient myths through performance and film. It will feature a special commission from Turner Prize-winning artist Chris Ofili and choreographer Aakash Odedra based on the myth of Prometheus. Extracts will also be performed from Mikhail Fokine’s The Firebird and The Dying Swan; Matthew Bourne’s Swan Lake; George Balanchine’s Apollo; and Wayne McGregor’s Raven Girl. Viewers will also be treated to the world premiere of a new piece by Rambert’s Miguel Altunaga. Also being screened as part of the event are three short dance films created by the National Ballet of Canada’s Robert Binet, rising choreographic talent Charlotte Edmonds, and internationally renowned choreographer Kim Brandstrup.

Watch Aakash Odedra rehearsing his new piece with Royal Ballet dancers:

Deloitte Ignite, curated by The Royal Ballet with the National Gallery's Minna Moore Ede, runs 5–28 September 2014 and includes a wide range of free and paying events. Tickets are still available.

'The music of Le Sacre du Printemps (The Rite of Spring) baffles verbal description...it has no relation to music at all as most of us understand the word'. So ran a 1913 review in the Musical Times of perhaps Igor Stravinsky's most iconic ballet score. Still, despite initial criticism and the much-discussed 'riot' at the premiere, Stravinsky's contribution to dance has proved to be a considerable one. With The Royal Ballet's Rite of Spring returning to Covent Garden this Season, we thought we'd take a look at a few of the composer's other wonderful ballet scores:

From its eerie opening with chromatic low strings to its glowing and exultant finale, The Firebird is a masterpiece of a ballet score. It was the first of Diaghilev's Ballets Russes productions to have a completely original score composed for it, and with its folktale-inspired narrative, the piece was originally intended as a Russian nationalist ballet. A number of different versions of the score exist, including at least three orchestral suites for concert performance – the first of which had its premiere in 1911 – which have led The Firebird to become a popular concert work as well as an acclaimed ballet. Stravinsky had been Diaghilev’s second choice as composer for the score of The Firebird (he originally wanted Anatoly Lyadov) but the success of the premiere made Diaghilev realize that he was onto a good thing in working with the 28-year-old composer. ‘Mark him well’, Diaghilev told ballerina Tamara Karsavina, ‘He is a man on the eve of celebrity’.

This ballet about a peasant wedding had its premiere in 1923, but Stravinsky first conceived the idea of it in 1913, while working on The Rite of Spring, and he originally planned the work for a similar-sized expanded symphony orchestra. Stravinsky rewrote Les noces several times – one of his versions was scored for roll-operated instruments including pianolas, however this was abandoned when the Parisian piano firm constructing some of the instruments repeatedly delayed delivery. Les noces's score is written for four solo singers and chorus as well as instruments. Stravinsky writing the libretto himself, using lyrics from Russian folksongs. The ballet has an extraordinary sound world: in place of an orchestra, Stravinsky eventually scored the work for a vast battery of both tuned and untuned percussion and no less than four grand pianos.

The first of several collaborations between Stravinsky and Russian/American choreographer George Balanchine saw the composer inspired by 16th and 17th century French baroque music, in particular works by Jean-Baptiste Lully. The youthful 24-year-old Balanchine took visual cues from Stravinsky's music, later writing that when he heard the score, all he could see was pristine white. Such was his clout at the time of the 1928 premiere, that Stravinsky had a great influence on the ballet's choreography - wanting a classical style of dance to match the serenity of the music. 'Dancing is music made visible,' Balanchine later quipped, in one of his oft-quoted and trademark Balanchineisms.

Capriccio for Piano and Orchestra, the score used for 'Rubies' from Balanchine's Jewels, had previously featured as the score for a ballet by Léonide Massine twenty years prior to Balanchine’s choosing it for his 1967 triptych. Still, the piece took on a new life as part of one of Balanchine's most acclaimed ballets. Stravinsky composed Capriccio for Piano and Orchestra from 1926 to 1929 while living in France – he had settled there after the Russian Revolution made it impossible for him to return to his homeland. It was intended as a 'breadwinning' piece, with a virtuosic piano part that (naturally) Stravinsky hoped to perform himself. Capriccio was influenced by the Romantic German composers Carl Maria von Weber (who Stravinsky termed ‘a Prince of Music’) and Felix Mendelssohn, and is a contrast to the composer’s early Russian-infused works, and even his 1928 ballet Le Baiser de la fée (which was inspired by the music of Tchaikovsky). However, despite its neoclassical style Capriccio for Piano and Orchestra sounds distinctly modern, with almost jazz-like tinges to the music. Balanchine’s joyous choreography provides plenty of visual sparkle and pizzazz, giving the piece, transformed into the ballet ‘Rubies, an almost Broadway-esque appeal.

Which are your favourite of Stravinsky's ballet scores?

The Rite of Spring runs from 9 - 23 November 2013. Tickets are sold out, though returns may become available. Day tickets will be available on the day of performance.

Come to Covent Garden this weekend and you’ll be met by the sight of a brightly lit Christmas tree, an enormous reindeer with a glowing nose and hundreds of red baubles hanging inside the Apple Market.

But if you’d like to see a different side of the area – and have a break from shopping – you might be interested in this Ballets Russes walking tour. It has been developed by Jane Pritchard, Curator of Dance at the V&A, and reveals the company’s close relationship with Covent Garden, uncovering some fascinating stories along the way.

Serge Diaghilev’s Ballets Russes made their British debut at the Royal Opera House in 1911. During the next two decades, the company performed at many of the theatres in the surrounding area (then, as now, the theatrical heartland of London), captivating audiences with their groundbreaking and visually spectacular productions. They drew on the skills of the many craftspeople who worked nearby, from wig-makers and tailors to cobblers and fabric-makers, to bring their shows to the stage, and stayed in some of the world-famous hotels nearby, such as the Savoy and the Waldorf.

A century later, Covent Garden looks very different. But the changes that have been made are largely superficial. While the shop fronts may be different, the facades of buildings often remain the same. For instance, the residence of the celebrated wig-maker Willy Clarkson, who supplied the Ballets Russes with wigs, props and make up, is now the Chinese restaurant Wong Kei. Yet there are tantalizing glimpses of its former inhabitant: a clock with the words ‘Costumier’ and ‘Perruquier’ adorns the front, while a sign claiming ‘Sarah Bernhardt laid the foundation stone of this building 1904’ hints at the building’s theatrical heritage.

The walking tour reveals some wonderful stories. For instance, did you know that it was when rehearsing The Rite of Spring in Chandos House on nearby Maiden Lane that choreographer Léonide Massine and dancer Vera Savina (née Clarke) fell in love? They later married, leading to Savina’s dismissal from the company. And when the Ballets Russes performed at the Shaftesbury Theatre, some of the company were forced to get changed in Holborn Baths (now the Oasis Sports Centre), due to lack of space? They had to cross the busy road in their elaborate costumes to reach the theatre.

The tour also provides an insight into some of the larger historical events in which the company were caught up. During World War I, the Drill Hall on Chenies Street in which the Ballets Russes usually rehearsed was occupied by the army, prompting the company’s move to the Shaftesbury Hotel’s club room on nearby Monmouth Street. The Ballets Russes were in London again when peace was declared on 11 November 1918. After their performance that evening at the Coliseum, the company – including Diaghilev and Massine – were swept up in the jubilant mood and joined the celebrating crowds in Trafalgar Square.

The Ballets Russes (in their original incarnation) performed for the last time in London in 1929, again at the Royal Opera House. However, their innovative style of dance transformed the ballet world and their legacy lives on in dance companies round the world. Not least in The Royal Ballet. Tonight The Firebird opens, 100 years after the Ballet Russes first brought this iconic work to Covent Garden. The mythical Firebird will once more dart onto the stage in a flash of glittering red and gold – following in the footsteps of the Ballets Russes.

The Firebird was the first completely original ballet that Sergei Diaghilev masterminded for Western audiences. It was created in 1910 - the year before Diaghilev’s company the Ballets Russes was formed - in response to the popularity of his Saisons Russes in Paris, Berlin and Brussels.

The Firebird took elements from several traditional Slavic stories and combined them in an original folk tale created for Western audiences increasingly fascinated by Russian art. Both the Firebird and the malevolent immortal Kastchey (whose name translates as ‘boney’, hence his skeleton costume) had featured in Russian stage productions before, but never together in one plot.

While conforming to existing dance traditions, The Firebird marked the beginning of new trends in ballet. The role of the eponymous Firebird – a bird of prey ‘ferocious and of great power’ – draws on strong academic ballet technique. Yet her pas de deux with the hero Ivan starts the ballet rather than occurring at the climax, as was traditional. While most ballets at the time ended with a lively celebratory dance, composer Igor Stravinsky persuaded the creative team to close the work with a stately coronation accompanied by a hymn of thanksgiving.

Mikhail Fokine’s choreography uses diverse styles of movement to represent various characters. A magical atmosphere is evoked from the opening, when the Firebird flies across the stage. Pointe-work is only used for the dances of the supernatural bird, to suggest flight and hovering. The thirteen captive princesses perform a circling folk-dance, known as a Khorovod, in soft shoes to folk-inspired music. Kastchey’s creatures are given suitably grotesque movements in the Infernal Dance. Fokine insisted that his hero Ivan (a role he performed himself at the ballet’s premiere) moved naturally. For example, at the start of the ballet, he really heaves himself over the wall into the garden.

The original designs were created by Alexandre Golovin, an experienced stage designer with the Private Opera in Moscow, who created an impressionistic forest: ‘a tapestry woven of green, gold, russet and silver threads’. The first production was not created with touring in mind: the heroine flew on wires and (just briefly) knights appeared on horseback. Needing a more manageable set, Diaghilev had the ballet redesigned by Natalia Goncharova in 1926. He requested scenery cloths that showed an orchard inspired by Andrea Mantegna’s frescos, and a Kremlin (walled city) of gilded onion-domed churches for the coronation. This provided a nostalgic reminder of Holy Russia, apparently pushed aside by the rise of the Soviet state.

Tamara Karsavina was not Diaghilev’s first choice to play the Firebird (he initially approached Anna Pavlova, but she had committed to a season performing in London). With her creation of the Firebird, however, Karsavina joined Diaghilev’s inner circle of friends and advisers. From the first season she shared the role with Lydia Lopokova who interpreted the role in a very different way: she was described as being more like a hummingbird than a bird of prey. In the 1920s Karsavina coached her successors and in 1954, when Serge Grigoriev and Lubov Tchernicheva mounted the ballet for The Royal Ballet (with Natalia Goncharova supervising her designs), Karsavina coached Margot Fonteyn and Michael Somes.

The Firebird was the first of Stravinsky’s ballets to be performed in London. It was first presented in London at the Royal Opera House by the Ballets Russes on 18 June 1912, having been revised and revived the previous month in Paris for its first performances since its premiere season. The Firebird’s originality was praised as a ‘riot of rich colour and fantastic movement’ and even Stravinsky’s ‘extraordinary command of the bizarre’ was admired. As the Observer recorded: ‘[Stravinsky] has great imaginative power, a wonderful sense of the picturesque… while under the wealth of captivating and curious harmonies and rhythmical embellishments lies a strong and graceful line of independent and individual melody.’

Royal Opera House Restaurants have introduced an enticing range of menus to complement Royal Ballet and Royal Opera productions over the Christmas season with bar and food inspired by the various works on stage.

The matinee performance of Peter Wright’s Christmas classic The Nutcracker, for example, is accompanied by a magical afternoon tea.

Laura Irving, Royal Opera House Restaurants, explains:

“Our own culinary Sugar Plum Fairy, world-renowned pastry chef Claire Clark, has created a fantasy-filled menu that will delight adults and children alike. It features Christmas trees of chocolate fudge cake, nutcracker-illustrated macaroons, and pecan tarts topped with a curl of edible sheet music.”

A range of classic sandwiches - including Severn & Wye smoked and a cheese and ham option for the kids – also provide a savoury option, alongside scones with strawberry jam and clotted cream, a selection of premium teas and coffees, and champagne.

The evening Nutcracker menu also features seasonal treats, including beetroot-cured smoked salmon, pheasant, cranberries, brussel spouts and plum pudding, while Laurent Pelly’s production of Robert le diable is accompanied by an enticing menu of festive flavours, including ‘sauce diable’ to accompany confit free-range pork belly.

John Copley’s classic production of La bohème features a luxurious menu that includes a selection of very special French wines and a decadent choice of desserts, while the mixed programme of The Firebird, In the Night and Raymonda Act III features, fittingly, a Russian-inspired spread that includes blinis with smoked salmon.

Laura continues,

“With prices on some of the matinee menus starting at only £5, it’s like Christmas has come early. A combination of dinner and ballet really does make the perfect Christmas gift!”

For the 2012/13 Season, Royal Opera House Restaurants launched a tantalising range of new menus designed to complement each production on the Royal Opera House stage. Find out more about the new dining options.